Commissioner's draft thoughts 2017:

 

First off let me say that the draft was fun and awesome and everyone in attendance had a good time and much laughter was had.  We have been doing this now for decades so almost everyone is a veteran of the system and process so really it is becoming easy for us over all this time.

 

Lets go through the grades team by team in the natural order that they showed up in the draft.

 

Pick #1 Horsemen:  Beckage had only two picks #1 and #2 and took Fournette and Mcaffrey.  Easy,  safe,  no frills.  Horsemen needs a few things,  mainly wrs and some backups here and there.  Those two running backs are big no doubt but Horsemen might have been better served getting some late rounder stuff also to go with the rest of this roster.  All in all I give it a B- if you are going to shrink to this small at least they were doozies .

 

Pick #2  Co’s Pros:  Cohen had big needs and last year grabbed an eff ton of late picks that were all veterans and almost all of them did not work out so you can see this year that Mr. C went smaller (11 picks) and went newer in earlier rounds.  D. Cook was a good pick but basically right were he should have been picked anyways (especially this year) and then got D. Watson QB in the middle of round 2.  That pick was way to late IMO and that may turn out to be the steal of the draft as this years QB crop was so bad and he was the only one that had any real talent at the position.  So Mr. C started out solid no doubt,  then the other shoe fell and he returned to his old ways with names like Cook, Powell, Savage, and Mcown.  Those are all names that are pre EO22 and have already been in the fail column of someone else's rosters.  However the other shoe also fell a few times with names like Theilen who I think was way way way late and probably the best WR to be had this year past the middle of the second round,  he got him at pick 32.    Overall Mr. C is moving in the right direction and I give this draft a grade of B+

 

Pick #3 Utter Dominance:  Roberts did not show at the draft for the 21st time in 25 years,  had 1 pick,  and created mass drama trying to trade the picks away and messing up offers that overlapped.  Picked WR C. Davis (a good pick right where it was supposed to be) and so after all that you would think that the grade would be a flat out F- yet I am upgrading him a little for two reasons 1) I like everything that Roberts got after all the dust settled and 2) I think that Roberts actually fell over himself here because for the first time in a while he was putting in effort and simply is bad at it because of noob factor.   Overall grade D-  but hey it could be the usual F

 

Pick #4 Gamblers:  Cho-lo did not show up,  had no picks,  and has a roster that is getting thin and old and finished 5-9 bottom of the West last year.  It appears that the smoke detector is going off but Cho-lo has not woke up yet and the joint is on fire. There is nothing else to say this year for him other than “Good Luck” Grade F- obviously he is missing his brother being here.

 

Pick #5 Bohemians:  Ah the traditional bad grade Bohemians had everything going for them this year.  They had a lot of picks in the early second round, two high firsts, and then 2 thirds.  Also was helped by a year that I think many first rounders were going to be gambles because so many positions this year lacked traditional talent levels that the NFL is used to. I also think that crazy Bill is kind of “getting it” although he still seems to rely on “jargon” as a replacement for production.  Trusting what a million people think versus your own brain wiring is a tough sell to Han Solo types like our Trader Bill but I think he is slowly coming around and this year fate handed him all the cards.  The two firsts were Mixon and Howard,  Howard is obviously what the million would say to do,  Mixon is talented but something about his eyes in interviews,  make people pause on him, and that concern seems legit to me,  he is a great RB talent but the NFL is going to have little-to-no patients with him if he is even slightly weird and I give it a 50/50 chance that he might be.  However I am also not sure where he should have went?  Maybe that is right where he should have gone so maybe no harm there.  Mahomes I like although not before Watson.  Williams I also like.  Conner and Kizer I do not like right there.  Conner is an L. Blount type that Pitt.  relies on as a backup all the time,  and Kizer looks like someone that may or may not work out in the NFL and again was picked before Watson?  It’s the place they were picked more than the players themselves.  The next four picks were whatever,  with Jax Def being the high water mark. All in All this felt like -- Han Solo wears a business suit and it doesn’t fit well but he gets with the program because the force is strong with him.  Grade A (so much going for them this year and took advantage of almost all of it) would have liked to see Watson and Foreman in place of Conner and Kizer and I would literally begin to fear Bohemians.

 

Pick #6  Incubus:  Klein took 2 months to confirm a trade and then confirmed live before the first 5 picks were made.  After waiting for the first 5 picks he should have THEN decided if he was going to confirm,  that was the move.  After two months why not wait another 1/2 hour?  Anyways,  Klein took J. Ross in first,  way to early.  JJ Smith Schuster is OK in second.  Cohen,  Saubert, Switzer, Butt,  2 forfeits--- left me---- legit--- flaccid.  This was a no mans land of draft production and Klein was wandering the wasteland no doubt.  Grade C-  I like the early WR just not where he went.

 

Pick #7 Endzone Animals:  No one uses a phone like Keith,  he will sit there and laugh and smoke and eat and read all at the same time and somehow draft also.  Everyone loved Williams in the first,  I don’t.  Engram in mid second was stellar,  as was D. Foreman who I think was literally the latest pick in this entire draft.  A. Jones was also solid right where he went. The rest was late and so it matters little anyways.  Solid B+ draft,  D. Foreman in mid third is still baffling to me this year.

 

Pick #8 DDR:  Millonzi was absent but actually put some work in and had a shockingly good draft.  Lynch in the first was the big gamble reach but they need it.  Jones was late,  so was Kittle,  and Taylor and Williams were solid picks also where they were.  I give this a B++ considering the position they have put themselves in they seem to have fought hard to swim upstream.  Grade B+

 

Pick #9 Remove Kebab  Ryan had traded away a lot of picks and so did not have anything until mid third round and when it was his turn to pick he was laughing and goofing off (as Edmistons are apt to do) and asked if anyone wanted “these picks”.  I felt like that was a warning sign and that things were about to go awry with this cat.  Oddly enough he buckled down and made all his picks and actually made some good ones.  Glennon in the 6th round is way way late because he is after all a starter and there are only 32 of them.  In a 14 team league where scoring is weighted towards QBs there should never be one of the 32 still hanging around in round 6.  Mack in the 3rd was a good pick although I have a sneaking suspicion that everyone else saw what most experts saw on tape,  that he is limited as a RB and may have trouble at the NFL level.  The rest were vanilla picks but none that were totally horrible (the Atlanta Def is suspect) Overall I give it a C+ mainly because it really doesn’t have anything of note there but he did a solid job with what he had.

 

Pick 10 Goats:  Oat had only his natural picks to work with.  Perine I like in the first and that's where he should have went.  Bryant in the third was obviously late so that was solid also.  The rest were average or below.  It is worth noting that he traded 3 transaction to Bohemians for picks 71 and 85 and picked a guy on IR and an EO22 fail that would still be available right now.  Basically Bohemians got 3 free transactions.  Only 2 solid picks,  and a fail transaction swap drives the Grade of this draft down to a C

 

Pick 11 Cellmates:  Cellmates had the same issue as Goats as they were only picking their natural order except worse-- they did not have a third.  Hunt was a solid pick at 11 and should be on the team for at least 5 years.  Mcnichols was not a good pick but is part of a confusing TB backfield that Cellmates feel married too the last few years.  Rodgers same story. In the 5th round A. Stewart the talented WR from the Jets was there and picked but Adarius has the same issue Carroo had last year (size and shape) 5’11 and 195-205 range is one of those builds that has a hard time at WR in the NFL.   Novak is a kicker and Cook is a scrub.  Nothing else to see here.  In this case,  where there is smoke there is NOT fire.  This draft was small and desperate and had nothing to it  grade D-  Hunt keeps it from going lower.

 

Pick 12 Savages: Josh does the exact same thing every year,  prints out positions in the order that they were drafted in the real NFL and then drafts based on position per pick.  An example of this would be this years first rounder at 12 he says to himself “I need a QB”  he then looks at the NFL and goes in order of who they drafted and the math says “Trubisky at 12”.  This was obviously a mistake because it does not take into account all the 100s of other factors that we all use,  and we don’t need to be discussing here. Everett in the second round was solid-- oddly enough—under the same math ,  the rest was nothing and then forfeited the last 3 rounds.  Josh will put more effort in someday but that day ain’t today......................Grade D

 

Pick 13 G-Fellas:  Sardina is one of my favorite people in the world and as I age I have come to realize that I both like and enjoy the competition from these two guys over the last few decades (I can hear Mr. P right now saying “what competition we win every year?”) that said,  G-Fellas showed up one man short this year and Sardina tried to hold the fort down solo.  I like Njoku at 13,  I like J. Williams at 27,  they had no third, then they went Galloday, Richardson, Conley, and Jacksonville OL,  all vanilla.   All in all it was better than mine but less than they usually do.  Oddly enough I think DDR had the best Central showing of the night and they weren’t even there.  Grade C-

 

Pick 14 Crushers:  Gratz to Lou again on winning the trophy.  Lou is a guy that likes to go big,  lets face it,  he is more than comfortable making 40 picks and watching them all preseason.  However,  in the last few drafts he went for quality over quantity. This year he returned to his old ways as he drafted 13 picks-- the most of any one owner.  I have to say,  I don’t like Kamara,  but the internet said that’s were he goes so I have to live with it.  T. Hill was stellar and I like that pick a lot that’s the one WR that will lead in stats this year on the entire board and I had a ton of notes written on him on my sheets.  I like Coleman,  I like Turbin, I like Greisham and the rest you can win the preseason with and toss.  Such is the life and times of the General Manager of the winning Super Bowl team in Romey 2016.  Even though I have more to dislike than like in all of it I still have to give it to Lou and grade this all a B+